EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Baseball Team has its eyes set on the 2012 season, which is slated to begin Tuesday evening. The Wasps will open the year against the Pride of Greensboro College at the City of Greensboro's Leonard Recreation Center at 6:00 p.m.
E&H, which is picked to finish 10th in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference this year, returns six players that hit over .250 a season ago. The Wasps are looking to improve on last year's 6-26 record, where they lost seven contests by two runs or less.
Senior infielder Josh McMillian (Amelia, Va.) led the team in at bats (131), hits (44) and runs (22) with a batting average of .336 for the season. Also returning for the Wasps is junior outfielder Eric Houff (Blacksburg, Va.). Last year, Houff was the one of the best all-around players for Emory & Henry, batting .296 and leading the squad with seven doubles, 12 walks and 10 stolen bases.
The top returning pitcher for E&H is senior Zach Jones (Fries, Va.). In 2011, Jones saw action in 11 games, starting seven with 42.2 innings pitched. He also had a team-leading 2.9:1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.
Joining Head Coach Trey McCall for his seventh at the helm of the Emory & Henry baseball program are Assistant Coaches Wayne Miller and Nick Windom.
Miller was a four-year letterwinner at Samford University in Alabama where he was an All-Southern Conference Second-Team pick as an outfielder. He comes to Emory from his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee where he served as an assistant coach at Bearden High School last year.
Windom will transition his role for the Wasps from player to coach in 2012, after completing his eligibility on the field last spring. Windom was a four-year letterwinner at first base and as a senior, hit .289 and led the team in RBI with 29 and was second on the squad with 35 hits on the year.
Emory & Henry will have its first contest at newly-renovated Porterfield-Devault Field on Wednesday, February 22 against Greensboro at 2:00 p.m. The Wasps will enter ODAC play on Saturday, March 3 when they travel to take on the Generals of Washington and Lee University.
E&H will offer Live Stats for all home games and is putting the finishing touches on a new Internet radio broadcast, which is also expected to be available for every home contest. Visit www.GoWasps.com for more information.
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